TOP STORIES

BOJ policymakers signal higher threshold for further easing

MATSUMOTO/TOKYO - Bank of Japan policymakers kept to their pledge to expand stimulus but only to protect the economy from external shocks, signalling that the threshold for further easing has been raised after last month's policy revamp. (JAPAN-ECONOMY/BOJ (WRAPUP 1), moved, by Leika Kihara and Stanley White, 475 words)

MARKETS

TOKYO - Asian shares hit three-week lows after a dour start to Wall Street's corporate earnings season knocked U.S. stocks, while the dollar and Treasury yields are at multi-month high on growing expectations of a U.S. rate hike in December. (GLOBAL-MARKETS/ (WRAPUP 2), moved, by Hideyuki Sano, 600 words)

Dollar pressured by sterling's rebound from selloff

TOKYO - The recently buoyant dollar came under pressure in Asian trading, as sterling partially rebounded from its dramatic losses in the previous session. (GLOBAL-FOREX/ (UPDATE 1), moved, 445 words)

Oil edges up before producer talks on output curbs

TOKYO - Crude futures inched up, with investors waiting for talks between OPEC producers and other oil exporters on curbing output to end a glut in the global market. (GLOBAL-OIL/ (moved), moved, 250 words)

Gold rises as dollar sags; Fed policy minutes in focus

BENGALURU - Gold edged higher as the U.S. dollar retreated, with markets waiting for minutes from the September Federal Reserve policy meeting for more clues on any interest rate hikes this year. (GLOBAL-PRECIOUS/ (UPDATE 1), by Swati Verma, 400 words)

ECONOMY

Australia consumer confidence rises further in Oct-survey

SYDNEY - A measure of consumer sentiment rose for a third month in October as Australians became more optimistic about the economy and their own finances for the year ahead, its compilers said on on Wednesday. (AUSTRALIA-ECONOMY/CONSUMERSENTIMENT (moved), moved, 275 words)

COMPANIES

SEOUL - Samsung Electronics Co Ltd needs to quickly find the cause of the fires that led to it pulling its Galaxy Note 7 smartphones and get a new model to market, investors said on Wednesday, as shares in the company slipped to a one-month low. (SAMSUNG ELEC-SMARTPHONES/STOCKS (UPDATE 2, PIX, TV), moving shortly, by Se Young Lee, 625 words)

Activists disrupt key Canada-U.S. oil pipelines

CALGARY - Climate-change activists on Tuesday disrupted the flow of millions of barrels of crude from Canada to the United States in rare, coordinated action that targeted several key pipelines simultaneously. (USA-CANADA/PIPELINES (UPDATE 4, PIX, GRAPHIC), moved, by Nia Williams, 815 words)